While there is certainly evidence that
teacher knowledge matters, there is scant evidence that the knowledge reflected in high standardized test scores is closely correlated with becoming a good teacher.
Not exact matches
Some
teachers do hear what the students are saying, Constantine says, and even at the high school level, where some
teachers believe that their job is strictly to teach the content and that's it, they are doing icebreaker activities in class that have nothing to do with subject -
matter knowledge.
«So many new
teachers seem to believe that a
knowledge of subject
matter is enough,» said Jack Burns, principal and chief administrator at South Pacific Academy, in American Samoa.
An Incomplete Education: Trained for the elementary or high school grades, middle school
teachers often lack
knowledge about subject
matter and young adolescents.
Professional references, GPA scores, and subject
matter knowledge scores were also connected to
teachers» evaluation outcomes, as well as to their attendance.
Kamras: A quality
teacher, in my view, is someone who: 1) knows his / her subject
matter with great proficiency; 2) has the demonstrated capacity — as measured by quantifiable student achievement — to share that
knowledge with children; 3) holds all children, regardless of background, to the highest of standards of excellence; 4) leads by taking full responsibility for his / her students» achievement; and 5) inspires students to pursue dreams they never imagined.
Teachers also complete a series of written exercises that probe the depth of their subject -
matter knowledge as well as their understanding of how to teach those subjects to their students.
In a 2001 study, Robert Strauss and William Vogt found that the productivity of
teachers is driven primarily by their
knowledge of subject
matter rather than of pedagogical techniques.
Of the many
teachers in our public schools, who have deep
knowledge of subject
matter and of how to engage youngsters» minds, most are in despair over the limits put on them by the mindless work demanded by high - stakes tests.
Through this recognition program, these schools can serve as models for others designing strategies to improve
teachers» skills and
knowledge of subject
matter.
Why Schools
Matter also fails to discuss — mostly because it was not included in the TIMSS surveys — how
teachers»
knowledge and skills differed across countries and what effect that might have on achievement.
Poor schools are home to more rookie
teachers, those with less subject -
matter knowledge, lower certification exam scores, you name it.
They want
teachers to be experts in their subject
matter, yet respectful of student
knowledge.
According to Hattie,
teacher subject -
matter knowledge had an effect size of 0.19, meaning that it was far less effective than other factors like classroom management (0.52) or effective
teacher feedback (0.75).
It's true that Eisenberg failed to find a correlation between
teachers» GPAs and their students» achievement, but GPA is considered a fairly crude measure of a
teacher's subject -
matter knowledge;
teachers presumably take courses in college other than those in their subject area, courses that might drag their GPAs down.
So are schools where
teachers have 120 or more students to get to know (with this 120 shuffled at the end of each semester); where serious learning is broken up into snippets of 50 - minute «subject
matter periods» arranged in no intellectually coherent order; where assessment keeps
knowledge tightly packaged in separate intellectual domains; where short - term memory work is rated as deserving the highest value at the expense of original, long - term analytic work; and where the intellectual engine of the curriculum comes at most students and
teachers as a list of subjects and skills, usually far too long for the careful savoring and devoted practice that leads to deep understanding and worthy habits.
Another example: in
Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence (1999), Darling - Hammond reviews what the research says about the relationship between student achievement and many different teacher variables, including teacher's general academic ability, intelligence, subject - matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, experience, and certification
Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence (1999), Darling - Hammond reviews what the research says about the relationship between student achievement and many different
teacher variables, including teacher's general academic ability, intelligence, subject - matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, experience, and certification
teacher variables, including
teacher's general academic ability, intelligence, subject - matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, experience, and certification
teacher's general academic ability, intelligence, subject -
matter knowledge, pedagogical
knowledge, experience, and certification status.
The subject -
matter portion was a test of a
teacher's
knowledge of the subject area that he or she was going to teach.
Under the ESEA proposal, states would be required to adopt performance examinations for all new
teachers, requiring them to demonstrate both subject -
matter knowledge and teaching expertise.
Certainly in high schools, where
teachers often specialise into one or two subject areas, there is a real emphasis on the subject
matter knowledge of the
teacher - which is why, the claim goes, that if you want to teach history, you should first learn a lot about history, and if you want to teach mathematics, then you should get a degree in mathematics.
Rather, what
matters most is how students and
teachers use technology to develop
knowledge and skills.
Hill, H.C., Ball, D.L., Sleep, L. & Lewis, J.M. (2007) Assessing
Teachers» Mathematical
Knowledge: What
Knowledge Matters and What Evidence Counts?
Also, «Subject
Matter Knowledge» is rather low on the list — but I've read numerous articles / attended many conferences where they discuss the importance of teachers being subject matter e
Matter Knowledge» is rather low on the list — but I've read numerous articles / attended many conferences where they discuss the importance of
teachers being subject
matter e
matter experts
content
knowledge, the
teacher shall demonstrate a thorough
knowledge of the subject
matter area and curriculum;
Beatty, who has been using and studying CRS products for more than a decade, acknowledges that the language and purpose of the question cycle, which he says is «to form habits of mind and find the limits of
knowledge,» sound more ivory tower than AP Bio, but he contrasts the current norm — the quick and shallow recall of facts required of American high school science and math students — with his larger objective: renouncing the myth of coverage, the idea that what a
teacher covers in class
matters.
-LSB-...] enough,
teacher subject
matter knowledge has been shown to make little difference by John Hattie «s big data crunch (Despite how others might feel).
The abundance of stories from
teachers about how motivated weak readers have become, and how much better those kids feel about themselves as a result of being included in reading the core texts and doing the work of the unit, is — without question — a summative finding of the
Knowledge Matters School Tour.
Efforts to Improve
Teacher Quality: Instead of requiring its
teachers to complete minimum degrees or coursework in the subjects they plan to teach, Oregon requires its high school
teachers to demonstrate subject -
matter knowledge by passing tests in their areas of endorsement prior to certification.
Another problem is that school improvement is not seen as a
matter of refining
teachers»
knowledge and skills.
Subject -
matter knowledge: The evidence is somewhat mixed, but it suggests that
teachers»
knowledge of their subject
matter, as measured by degrees, courses, and certification in that area, is associated with high performance.
Our data suggest that it is what
teachers do to promote application of phonics
knowledge during the reading of connected text that
matters most.
This framework recognizes that
teachers should integrate technological
knowledge with subject
matter learning, rather than focusing only on technological
knowledge at the expense of appropriate pedagogy or the content (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
In particular, they emphasize the context - specific nature of teaching and the need for
teachers to integrate
knowledge of subject
matter, students, and contextual conditions as they make instructional decisions, engage students in learning, and reflect on practice (Wayne & Youngs, 2003).
Knowledge matters — Prepare teacher leaders to draw on their content knowledge expertise when working with instructional teams of teachers and admini
Knowledge matters — Prepare
teacher leaders to draw on their content
knowledge expertise when working with instructional teams of teachers and admini
knowledge expertise when working with instructional teams of
teachers and administrators.
In this article we will investigate the role that conversation plays throughout instruction toward building
teacher capacity and student self - efficacy in subject
matter knowledge.
More frequently, studies were designed to examine the effect of a comprehensive preparation program, yielding findings of value to those interested in replicating the entire program, but with less utility to those interested in understanding which
knowledge and skills
mattered for which
teacher leader roles.
According to new findings released by YouthTruth, a national nonprofit that harnesses students» perceptions to help educators identify needs and accelerate improvements, 32 percent of high school students do not feel positively about their
teachers» content
knowledge of the subject
matter being taught.
Pedagogical Content
Knowledge — What
Matters Most in the Professional Learning of Content
Teachers in Classrooms with Diverse Student Populations By Adela Solís, Ph.D., IDRA Newsletter http://www.idra.org/resource-center/pedagogical-content-
knowledge/
Findings from four studies indicated that
teacher leaders with deeper
knowledge of subject
matter content and pedagogy were more likely than those without such
knowledge to provide support to
teachers» implementation of instructional materials.
Armed with the
knowledge that quality teaching
matters most for student learning, policymakers from state to state are racing to adopt new educational accountability measures that seek, among other things, to evaluate
teacher effectiveness with more rigorous, evidence - based instruments.
The rigorous criteria involved in achieving Qualified
Teacher Status (QTS) ensures that
teachers possess solid
knowledge and understanding of educational values and subject
matter, and high standards of planning, monitoring, assessment and class management.
Pedagogical Content
Knowledge — What
Matters Most in the Professional Learning of Content
Teachers in Classrooms with Diverse Student Populations Adela Solís, Ph.D., IDRA Newsletter http://www.idra.org/resource-center/pedagogical-content-
knowledge/
Each school is responsible for providing staff development to extend its
teachers»
knowledge and use of innovative teaching strategies, technology, and contemporary subject
matter.
The CoRDS model provides
teachers with a pedagogical tool that works concertedly with other subject
matter approaches and allows students to access their analytical and creative faculties to demonstrate understanding or reveal gaps in their
knowledge.
States can reserve up to 3 percent of their Title II funds for investments in «
teacher, principal, or other school leader certification, recertification licensing, or tenure systems or preparation program standards and approval processes to ensure that (i)
teachers have the necessary subject -
matter knowledge and teaching skills, as demonstrated through measures determined by the State.»
Congress should establish within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act a federal definition for a «highly effective
teacher» that includes criteria, such as but not limited to
knowledge of subject
matter; skill in planning, delivering, monitoring, and assessing students» learning; skill in developing and maintaining positive relationships with students, parents, and colleagues;
knowledge and skill in pedagogical methods to meet the needs of students with an array of learning styles and needs; and commitment to students» learning to their utmost potential.
Teachers may be able to ascertain the depth of a candidate's subject
matter knowledge in a way an administrator can't.
States and districts should include multiple measures of performance, including but not limited to input measures such as evidence of a
teacher's
knowledge of subject
matter; skill in planning, delivering, monitoring, and assessing students» learning; skill in developing and maintaining positive relationships with students, parents, and colleagues;
knowledge and skill in pedagogical methods to meet the needs of students with an array of learning styles and needs; and commitment to students» learning to their utmost potential.
Smaller class sizes, private schooling, homework and discipline do not make a difference to the quality of education, explains education expert John Hattie — «what really
matters is interaction with
teachers, clinical teaching, constantly measuring each student's
knowledge and responding to their individual needs».
The
teacher was to have a solid foundation in the arts and sciences, a breadth and depth of
knowledge of the subject to be taught, and an understanding of subject
matter pedagogy and curriculum development.